International students and the Chinese academic library: A user survey at Beijing Normal University Library

•We explore international students' library usage preference.•We examine their perceptions on importance and performance of library.•We analyze where and how gaps exist between importance and performance of library.•Conclusions on how to improve BNUL service quality were drawn.

With great increase of international students coming to study in China, more and more challenges occur for Chinese academic libraries to meet their needs. In case of Beijing Normal University Library (BNUL), we conducted a user survey and a five-point Likert Scale questionnaire focusing on the areas of library services, resources and environment was used to explore international students' library usage preference and their perceptions on importance and performance of these three areas. The analysis started with descriptive analysis followed by gap analysis between importance to the users and library's performance, and key findings from suggestions of international students were listed. The main objective of this paper is to know international students' information needs, analyze their assessment to the library, determine where and how gaps exist and find out aspects that BNUL need to improve. The paper finally drew some conclusions on how to improve BNUL service quality to international students.